ISTANBUL — A Turkish pilot accused of aiding Carlos Ghosn in his dramatic escape from Japan mentioned on Thursday he didn’t know the previous Nissan government was on the airplane, because the case towards him and several other different staff of a Turkish jet firm resumed.

Ghosn, as soon as a number one gentle of the worldwide automobile business, was arrested in Japan in late 2018 and charged with underreporting his wage and utilizing firm funds for private functions, fees he denies.

The ousted chairman of the alliance of Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors had been awaiting his trial below home arrest in Japan when he escaped in December final 12 months by way of Istanbul to Beirut, his childhood house.

An government from Turkish personal jet operator MNG Jet and 4 pilots had been detained by Turkish authorities in early January quickly after Ghosn’s escape and charged with migrant smuggling, a cost carrying a most sentence of eight years in jail. They had been launched in July, when the primary listening to was held.

Noyan Pasin, one of many pilots on the flight from Osaka to Istanbul, mentioned earlier than the listening to on Thursday that he realized that Ghosn was on the airplane from information reviews after the flight.
He mentioned he executed the flight as requested by the corporate and had no probability to intervene at any level within the technique of Ghosn’s escape.

“Even when we wished to, there isn’t any risk for us to intervene as a result of the native authority has full management. We had nothing to do with the escape, we solely carried out the flight,” he instructed Reuters.

At Thursday’s listening to, the courtroom rejected a request by the pilots to raise a journey ban towards them. That they had instructed the courtroom the measure prevented them from finishing up their job.

It set the subsequent listening to for Jan. 20, 2021.

All defendants have pleaded not responsible to the costs.

The Ghosn saga has shaken the worldwide auto business, at one level jeopardizing the Renault-Nissan alliance which he masterminded, and elevated scrutiny of Japan’s judicial system.

Renault and Nissan have struggled to get well profitability following his tenure, throughout which each automakers say Ghosn targeted an excessive amount of on increasing gross sales and market share.